Homilies on Romans 16

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.

Did I not seem to you, on the day before, to have spoken certain great and surpassing things concerning Paul's love toward Christ? For indeed they were by nature great, and beyond all speech;

yet the things now spoken have as great a surpassingness over those, as those had over the things that are ours.

And yet I did not think that they could be surpassed; but nevertheless the words read to us today, when they came, appeared far more brilliant than all of those.

Which very thing he himself also perceived, and disclosed it from the outset in the prologue, inasmuch as he was about to enter upon greater matters and to be disbelieved by the many.

But first he makes firm assurance concerning the things he is about to say;

which many are wont to do, whenever they are about to say something that is disbelieved among the many, and about which they themselves have been thoroughly persuaded.

For 'I speak the truth,' he says, 'and I lie not, and my conscience bears me witness, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.'

'For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ.'

What are you saying, O Paul? From Christ, the One you long for, from whom neither kingdom nor hell could separate you, neither things seen nor things conceived, nor so many other things — from Him do you now pray to be anathema? What has happened? Have you been changed, and have you dissolved that longing? 'No,' he says, 'fear not;

for I have even intensified it the more.'

How then do you pray to be anathema, and seek such estrangement and separation, after which no other can be found? 'Because,' he says, 'I love Him exceedingly.'

How, tell me, and in what manner? For the matter resembles a riddle.

But rather, if it seems good, let us first learn what the anathema really is, and then let us question him concerning these things, and we shall come to know this ineffable and paradoxical love.

What then is the anathema? Hear him as he speaks:

'If anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.'

That is, let him be separated from all, let him be a stranger to all.

For just as none would dare simply to touch with his hands the votive offering (anathema) that is dedicated to God, nor even to come near it;

so also him who is separated from the Church he calls by this name from the opposite sense, cutting him off from all and leading him as far away as possible, with much fear forbidding all to separate themselves from him and to shrink from him.

For to the anathema, on account of its honor, none dared to draw near;

but from him who was dishonored, all separated themselves out of the opposite intent.

So that the separation is one, and in like manner both this and that are estranged from the many;

but the manner of the separation is not one, but this one is even the opposite of that.

For from the one they kept away as being consecrated to God, but from the other as being estranged from God and torn away from the Church.

This then Paul also, making it plain, said:

'I could wish to be anathema from Christ.'

And he did not simply say, 'I wished,' but intensifying it, he says even 'I could pray.'

But if it troubles you, since what is said appears too feeble, consider the matter — not only that he wished to be separated, but also the cause for which he wished it — and then you will see the exceeding greatness of his love;

since he also circumcised, and we attend not to the deed done, but to the intent and the cause of what was done, and for this reason we admire him the more.

And he not only circumcised, but also shaved his head and offered sacrifice;

and we by no means say that on this account he is a Jew, but rather that for this very reason he was most of all set free from Judaism, and was pure, and a genuine servant of Christ.

Just as, then, when you see him circumcising and sacrificing

you do not on this account condemn him as Judaizing, but rather for this very reason you crown him, as being a stranger to Judaism;

so also, when you see him desiring to become anathema, be not troubled on this account, but rather for this very reason proclaim him aloud, once you have thoroughly learned the cause for which he wills this.

For if we do not examine the causes, we shall call even Elijah a murderer, and Abraham not only a murderer but even a child-slayer;

and we shall again indict Phinehas and Peter for murder; and not concerning the saints only, but even concerning the God of all things, he who keeps not this rule will harbor many absurd suspicions.

In order, then, that this may not happen, in all such cases let us gather together the cause and the intent and the occasion and everything that pleads in defense of what is done, and thus let us examine the matters;

which very thing we must now do also in the case of this blessed soul.

The cause? Again it is Jesus Himself, the One longed for.

'And yet it is not for His own sake,' he says;

'for I could wish to be anathema from Him,' he says, 'on behalf of my brethren.'

And this belongs to his humility;

for he does not wish to appear as saying something great, and as bestowing this favor upon Christ.

Wherefore he also said 'kinsmen,' in order to conceal his advantage;

since, that he willed the whole thing for Christ's sake, hear what follows;

for having said 'the kinsmen,' he added:

'Whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever.'

For if it were on behalf of others' believing that he wished to become anathema, he ought also to have prayed this on behalf of the Gentiles;

but if he prays it on behalf of the Jews only, he shows that he wills it not for Christ's sake, but on account of his kinship with those men.

And indeed, if he had prayed on behalf of the Gentiles only, this would not have appeared in the same way;

but since it was on behalf of the Jews only, it is shown purely that he was zealous for this on account of the glory of Christ.

And I know indeed that what is said seems paradoxical to you;

yet, if you are not disturbed, I shall speedily try to make it clear.

For neither did he say these things which he said at random, but since all were saying and accusing God, that though they had been deemed worthy to be called sons of God, and had received the law, and had known Him before all others, and had enjoyed such great glory, and had served Him before the whole world, and had received promises, and were fathers of the same tribes, and — what is greatest of all — had become forefathers of the Christ Himself (for this is what 'of whom is the Christ according to the flesh' means), yet they had been cast out and dishonored, while in their stead had been brought in men who had never acknowledged Him, those from among the Gentiles;

since therefore, in saying these things, they blasphemed God, Paul, hearing this and being stung, and grieving for the glory of God, prayed to be anathema, if only it were possible, so that those men might be saved, and this blasphemy might be abolished, and God might not seem to have deceived the descendants of those to whom He had promised the gifts.

And that you may learn that it was in grieving over this — lest the promise of God should seem to fail, the promise that says to Abraham, 'To you will I give this land and to your seed' — that he prayed these things;

after saying these things, he added:

'Not as though the word of God had failed.'

showing that he endured to bear all these things for the sake of the word of God;

that is, the promise made to Abraham.

For just as Moses seemed indeed to be interceding on behalf of the Jews, but did the whole thing on behalf of the glory of God (for 'lest they say,' he says, 'that because He was not able to save them, He led them out to destroy them in the wilderness');

so also Paul, 'lest they say,' he says, 'that the promise of God has fallen through, and that He lied in what He promised, and that His word did not come to pass in deed, I could have wished to become anathema.'

For this very reason he says it is not on behalf of the Gentiles (for neither had it been promised to them, nor had they served Him;

wherefore they were not blaspheming Him on their account), but on behalf of the Jews, who had both received the promise and had been made His own before all others, he prayed these things.

Do you see that, if he had prayed on behalf of the Gentiles, he would not thus have appeared to be doing it purely for the glory of Christ;

but since he willed to become anathema on behalf of the Jews, then most of all it was shown that he desires these things for Christ's sake alone.

'Whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the service of God, and the promise.'

'For the law also,' he says, 'is from thence, which speaks concerning Christ, and the covenants made with them are all theirs, and He Himself is from among them, and the fathers who received the promises are all from those men;

but nevertheless the contrary has come to pass, and they have fallen away from all the good things.'

'For this reason I am cut to the heart,' he says; 'and if it were possible to be separated from the choir gathered about Christ, and to be estranged — not from His love (God forbid, since even these things he did out of love), but even from that enjoyment and that glory — I would have accepted it, so that my Master might not be blasphemed, because of

not hearing certain men say that the matters had become a mere stage-play;

'He promised to some, and gave to others;

He was born of some, and saved others.'

It had been promised to the forefathers of the Jews, yet, passing over their descendants, He brought those who had never known Him into the good things that belonged to those others;

those men laboured in studying the Law and reading the prophecies, while those who but yesterday came back from the altars and the idols have become greater than they;

where in this is providence? Therefore, that such things might not be said of my Master, he says, even if they are said unjustly, I would gladly have fallen even from the Kingdom and from that ineffable glory, and I would have endured all dreadful things, accounting it the greatest of all consolations for my toil, that He who is so longed for should no longer be heard blasphemed.

But if you still do not accept what has been said, consider that many fathers have often accepted such things for their children's sake, and have chosen to be parted from them, and only to see them held in honour, reckoning their children's good repute sweeter than their company.

But since we are far from this love, we cannot even understand the things that are spoken.

For thus there are some who are not even worthy to hear the name of Paul, and who stand so far off and distant from his ardour, that they suppose he was speaking these words concerning a temporal death;

of whom I would say that they are as ignorant of Paul as the blind are of the sun's ray;

or rather, far more so.

For he who died daily, and set before himself snowstorms of dangers, and said, 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or persecution?'—and not content with what he had said, but soaring beyond heaven, and the heaven of heaven, and angels and archangels, and running over all things above, and grasping together at once things present and things to come, things seen and things conceived, things grievous and things good, the things in both, and leaving out nothing at all; and not even so satisfied, but even supposing another creation of like magnitude that does not exist—

how, after all those things, would he have mentioned a temporal death as though speaking of some great matter?

It is not so, it is not!

rather, such a supposition belongs to worms burrowing in a dunghill.

For if he were saying this, how could he have prayed to be accursed from Christ? For such a death would rather have joined him to the choir of Christ, and made him enjoy that glory.

But indeed there are some who dare to say other things even more ridiculous than these.

For he prayed, they say, not to be a death, but a treasure and an offering to Christ.

And who, even of the utterly worthless and abject, would not pray for this? And how was this to be for the sake of his kinsmen? Leaving aside then these fables and follies—for it is not even worth arguing against them, just as it is not against children who lisp—let us return again to the very text, delighting ourselves in the sea of his love, and everywhere swimming in it without fear, and pondering that unspeakable flame;

or rather, whatever one might say, one will say nothing worthy of it.

For it was wider than any sea, and fiercer than any flame, and no word will be able to proclaim it according to its worth;

but he alone knows it who has acquired it with exactness.

Come then, let us again bring the very words into the midst;

'For I could wish that I myself were accursed.'

What is 'I myself'? He who had become the teacher of all, who had gathered together countless good deeds, who was awaiting countless crowns, who had so longed for Him as to prefer His love to all things, who was daily consumed with fire for His sake, and reckoned all things secondary to his affection toward Him.

For it was not only his being loved by Christ that concerned him, but also his loving Him exceedingly;

for on account of this he looked to this alone, and bore all things easily;

for one thing he aimed at through all things: to fulfil this good longing.

But since it was not to be so, nor was he to be accursed, he thereafter attempts also to enter upon

a defence against the accusations, and, bringing into the midst the things bruited about by all, to overturn them.

And before entering upon the clear defence of these matters, he already casts down beforehand its seeds.

For when he says, 'Whose is the adoption and the glory and the giving of the Law and the service and the promises,' he means nothing else than that God indeed willed that they should be saved (and this He made plain by what He did before, and by the fact that Christ came from them, and by what He promised to the fathers);

but they, out of their own perversity, rejected the benefit.

Therefore he sets down those things too which are indicative only of God's gift, not praises of them;

for indeed the adoption came of His grace, and the glory and the promises and the Law.

Having considered all these things, and reckoned how great a zeal God together with His Son had shown to save them, he cried aloud and said:

'Who is blessed for ever.'

offering up for all men the thanksgiving to the Only-begotten of God.

For what of it, he says, if others also blaspheme? Yet we who know His hidden things, and the ineffable wisdom, and the great providence, know clearly that He is worthy not of being blasphemed, but of being glorified.

And not content with his own conscience, he attempts thereafter also to lay down an argument, and to use a more vehement word against them;

and he does not press hard upon them until he has first taken away their suspicion.

For that he might not seem to be discoursing as with enemies, he goes on to say:

'Brethren, the good pleasure of my heart, and my supplication to God, is on their behalf, unto salvation;'

and here too, along with the other things he had said, he was preparing the ground so as not to seem to be speaking out of enmity the things he was about to say against them;

wherefore he does not refuse to call them kinsmen and brethren.

For even though it was for Christ's sake that he said what he said, yet he also draws over their mind, and prepares the way for his discourse, and frees himself from all suspicion on account of the things about to be said against them, and only then does he thereafter enter upon the argument sought by the many.

For many were inquiring, as I said before, for what reason those who had received the promise fell away, while those who had never once heard it were saved before them.

Solving this difficulty, then, he brings forward the solution before the objection.

What then? Are you more anxious for God's glory than God is for His own? And, Does He need help from you, so that His word should not fall to the ground? Taking his stand against these things he says:

These things I have said, not as though the word of God has fallen to the ground, but that I might show my affection concerning Christ.

For even with matters having so turned out, we are not at a loss for words on God's behalf, he says, and for showing that the promise stands.

'To you and to your seed will I give the land;'

and, 'In your seed shall all the nations be blessed.'

Let us see then what sort of thing the seed is, he says;

for not all who are from him are his seed;

'For not all who are of Israel, these are Israel;'

'nor because they are Abraham's seed are they all children.'

If then you learn what sort of thing Abraham's seed is, you will see the promise given to his seed, and will know that the word has not fallen away.

What sort of thing then, tell me, is the seed? It is not I who say it, he says, but the Old Testament itself interprets itself, speaking thus:

'In Isaac shall your seed be called.'

What is 'In Isaac'? Interpret it.

That is: it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God;

but the children of the promise are reckoned as seed.

And behold Paul's understanding and greatness of mind;

for in interpreting he did not say that 'It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of Abraham,' but 'the children of God;'

joining the old things to the present, and showing that not even Isaac was simply Abraham's child.

And what he means is this:

As many as were begotten after the manner of Isaac, these are children of God and Abraham's seed.

For on account of this He said, 'In Isaac shall your seed be called,' that you might learn that those who are begotten in this manner, the manner according to Isaac, these especially are the seed of Abraham.

How was Isaac begotten? Not according to the law of nature, nor according to the power of the flesh, but according to the power of the promise.

What is 'according to the power of the promise'? 'At this season will I come to you, and Sarah shall have a son.'

This promise then, and the word of God, both fashioned and begot Isaac.

For what of it, though there lay beneath a woman's womb and belly? For it was not the power of the belly, but the might of the promise, that brought forth the child.

So too are we begotten through the words of God;

for in the pool of the waters it is the words of God that beget us and fashion us anew;

for being baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we are begotten.

And this begetting is not of nature, but of the promise of God.

For just as, when He had foretold the birth of Isaac, He then brought it to pass,

so also He proclaimed our own birth beforehand, many years in advance, through all the prophets, and afterward brought it to accomplishment.

Do you see how great a thing He displayed, and how, having promised something great, He accomplished it with all ease? But should the Jews say that the words, 'In Isaac shall thy seed be called,' mean that those born of Isaac are to be reckoned to him for seed, then the Idumaeans also and all who are descended from him ought to be styled his sons;

for their forefather Esau was a son of Isaac.

But as it is, not only are they not styled his children, but they are utterly estranged from him.

Do you see that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but that even in nature itself the birth through baptism from above is prefigured? But if you cite the womb to me, I too can point to the water.

But just as here everything belongs to the Spirit, so there too everything belonged to the promise;

for the womb was colder than the water, by reason of barrenness and old age.

Let us therefore consider our own high birth with all exactness, and let us display a manner of life worthy of it;

for it has in it nothing fleshly nor earthly.

For neither sleep, nor the will of the flesh and its embraces, nor the frenzy of desire, but the loving-kindness of God wrought the whole.

And just as there, when the age for it had been despaired of, so also here, when the old age of sins had come upon us, suddenly the man rose up new, and we all became children of God and seed of Abraham.

And not only so, but also Rebecca, when she had conceived by one, even by Isaac our father.

Wherefore he sets in motion many considerations, and endeavours from every side to resolve the difficulty.

For if it be strange and novel that those men fell away after so many promises, far stranger is it that we too entered into their good things, we who expected nothing of the kind.

And it happened just as if a king's son, having by promise the right to succeed to his father's dominion, should be cast out into the rank of the dishonoured, while in his stead a condemned man, laden with countless evils, being brought out of the prison, should receive the sovereignty that pertained to the other.

For what could you say? he asks.

That the son was unworthy? But this man also was unworthy, and much more so.

Therefore they ought either to have been punished together, or honoured together.

Some such thing came to pass also with regard to the Gentiles and to the Jews, and something far more paradoxical than this.

For that all are unworthy, he made plain in what has been said, when he declared:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

but the novel thing is that, though all were unworthy, the Gentiles alone were saved.

But together with these, one might again be perplexed by yet another point, he says.

For if God was not going to fulfil His promises to them, for what reason did He even promise? For men, indeed, not knowing the future, being often deceived, promise their gifts even to those unworthy to receive them;

but He who foreknows both things present and things to come, and clearly understands that they will render themselves unworthy of the promises, and therefore will receive none of the things spoken, for what reason does He even promise?

How then did Paul resolve these things? By showing who is the Israel to whom He made the promise.

For once this is shown, that other point too is demonstrated along with it, namely, that all the promises have been fulfilled.

For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.

For this reason he set down, not the name of Jacob, but that of Israel, which was a token of the just man's virtue and of the gift from above and of his having seen God.

And yet he says that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

If then all have sinned, how were some saved and others lost? Because not all were willing to draw near;

for as far as His part was concerned, all were saved;

for indeed all were called.

But for the present he does not set this down, but resolves it out of abundance, and from other examples, bringing another question into the midst, and, just as in what went before, he resolved a very great difficulty by means of another difficulty.

For since it was being inquired how, when Christ was justified, all the rest enjoyed that righteousness, he introduced the case of Adam, saying:

For if by the one man's trespass death reigned, much more shall they who receive the abundance of grace reign in life.

And the case of Adam he does not resolve, but the other he resolves by means of it, and shows that there is greater reason that He who died on their behalf should have authority over them, to do as He wills.

For that when one had sinned all should be punished does not seem to the multitude to happen very much according to reason;

but that when one had wrought righteousness all should be justified, would have more reason in it, and be more befitting to God.

Nevertheless he did not resolve that which was in question;

for the more obscure it remained, the more was the Jew put to silence;

and the perplexity concerning this passed over to that, and this becomes clearer from that.

So then here also, out of other perplexities he resolves the matters in question;

for his contest was with the Jews.

For this very reason the examples which he brought into the midst he does not fully resolve;

for he was not liable to answer for such things, as in the contention with the Jews;

but all his own points he makes clearer from those.

For why do you marvel, he says, that of the Jews some were saved and others were not saved now? For one may see this happening from of old, even in the case of the patriarchs.

For why is Isaac alone called seed, though he too was the father of Ishmael and of many others besides? But was it because Ishmael was of a bondwoman mother? And what has this to do with the one who begot him? Yet I contend nothing about this;

let this one be cast out on account of his mother;

what should we say concerning those born of Keturah? Were they not free, and born of a free woman? Why then were they not honoured with the same precedence as Isaac? And why do I speak of these? For Rebecca alone became wife to Isaac, and bearing two children, she bore them both of Isaac;

but nevertheless those who were born, being of the same father, of the same mother, having loosed the same birth-pangs, and being of the same father and the same mother, and besides this twins as well, did not enjoy the same lot.

And yet here you cannot lay the blame on the mother's servile condition, as in the case of Ishmael, nor that the one was born of this womb and the other of another, as in the case of Keturah and of Sarah, where indeed they even shared in the very hour of the birth-pangs.

For this reason Paul also, as though advancing to a clearer example, says: And not only in the case of Isaac did this come to pass, but also Rebecca, when she had conceived by one, even by Isaac our father.

For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger;

Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

For what reason then was the one loved and the other hated? Why did the one serve and the other was served? Was it because the one was wicked and the other good? And yet, when they were not yet born, the one was honoured and the other condemned;

for when they were not yet born, God said, The elder shall serve the younger.

For what reason then did God say this? Because He does not wait, as man does, to behold from the outcome of events who is the good man and who is not such, but even before these things He knows who is the wicked and who is not such.

And this came to pass also in the case of the Israelites, with even greater wonder.

For why do I speak, he says, of Esau and Jacob, of whom the one was wicked and the other good? For in the case of the

Israelites the sin was common to all;

for all worshipped the calf.

But nevertheless some obtained mercy, and others obtained not mercy;

For I will have mercy, He says, on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

This one may also observe in the case of those who are punished.

For what could you say concerning Pharaoh, that he was punished and paid so great a penalty? That he was hard-hearted and disobedient.

Was he then the only such one, and no other besides? How then was he so severely punished? And why, moreover, in the case of the Jews did God call those who were not a people a people, and again, why did He not count all worthy of the same honor? 'For though the number of them be as the sand of the sea,' he says, 'a remnant shall be saved.'

And why the remnant alone? Do you see with how great perplexity the matters before us are filled? And that quite reasonably;

for when it is possible to cast one's adversary into perplexity, do not straightway bring forward the solution.

For if he too should appear to be liable to the same ignorance, why do you needlessly endure dangers? Why do you make him more insolent, by drawing the whole matter upon yourself?

For tell me, O Jew, when you are so perplexed and can solve none of these things, how is it that you make trouble for us over the calling of the Gentiles? And yet I for my part have even a just reason to state, on account of which the Gentiles were justified while you fell away.

What then is the reason? Because they sought it by faith, but you as it were by the works of the law.

And by contending over these things you were betrayed on every side.

For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.

The solution, then, of the whole passage—to state the entire matter, as it were, in summary—is thus brought forward by that blessed soul;

but that these things may also become clearer, let us make our examination of each of the things said, knowing this: that what blessed Paul was eager for was to teach through all that was said, that God alone knows those who are worthy, but no man does, even though he seem to know very well; rather, in many cases the votes of this judgment go astray.

For He who understands the secret things of the mind knows clearly of Himself which are worthy of crowns and which of chastisement and punishment.

For this reason He has both punished many who among men were reckoned to be good, having convicted them, and has crowned those suspected of being wicked, having shown that they were not such;

casting His vote not from the opinion of the servants, but from His own exact and incorruptible judgment, and not waiting to see from the outcome of deeds who is base and who is not such.

But nevertheless, that we may not again make the discourse more obscure, let us go to the very words of the Apostle.

'And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac.'

'For I might indeed,' he says, 'have mentioned also those born of Keturah, but I do not;

rather, so as to win the victory with abundance to spare, I bring into the midst those born of one father and one mother.'

For both were from Rebecca, and from Isaac the true son, the approved one, the one preferred above all, concerning whom He said;

'In Isaac shall your seed be called,' he who became the father of us all.

But if that man is our father, then those born of him also ought to be fathers.

Do you see how this comes to pass not in the case of Abraham only, but also in the case of the son himself, and that everywhere it is faith and virtue that shine forth and mark out the true kinship? For from this we learn that the children are called his children not only by the manner of their birth, but also because they are worthy of the virtue of the one who begot them.

For if it were only from the manner of birth, then Esau too ought to have enjoyed the same things as Jacob;

for he too was from a deadened womb, and his mother was barren.

But this was not the only thing in question; rather, the manner also, which is no small matter and contributes to our instruction for life.

And he does not say, 'Because the one was good and the other wicked, therefore he was preferred,' lest this should straightway meet him with objection;

What then? Are those from the Gentiles rather good than those from the circumcision? For even if the truth of the matter were thus, yet he does not yet lay it down;

for indeed it seemed to be somewhat burdensome;

but upon the knowledge of God

he cast the whole matter, with which no one would have dared to contend, not even if he were exceedingly mad.

'For the children being not yet born,' he says, 'neither having done any good thing, it was said unto her, that The elder shall serve the younger;'

and he shows that the nobility according to the flesh profits nothing, but that one must seek the virtue of the soul, which even before the works God knows.

'For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said unto her, that The elder shall serve the younger.'

For this belongs to foreknowledge, even to choose them out from their very birth-pangs;

'in order that,' he says, 'the election of God might be made manifest, which was according to purpose and foreknowledge;'

for from the first day He both knew and proclaimed both the good man and the one who was not such.

Do not therefore say to me, he says, that you read the law and the prophets, and served so long a time.

For He who knows how to test the soul, He also knows who is worthy to be saved.

Yield therefore to the incomprehensibility of the election;

for He alone knows how to crown with exactness.

How many at least seemed to be better than Matthew according to the visible display of works? But He who knew the secret things, and was able to test the aptitude of the mind, recognized even the pearl lying in the mire, and passing by the others and marveling at the beauty of this one, chose him, and adding His own grace to the nobility of his purpose, declared him approved.

For if in these perishable arts, and in all other matters, those skilled in judging do not choose the things set before them from what the laymen decree, but from what they themselves clearly know, and often have dishonored what was approved among the laymen, while approving what had been dishonored;

and horse-tamers have often done this in the case of horses, and the judges of precious stones, and the craftsmen of the other arts too;

much more will the God who loves mankind, the boundless Wisdom, the One who alone knows all things clearly, not tolerate the surmising of men, but will cast His vote concerning all things from His own exact and unerring wisdom.

For this very reason He chose both a tax collector and a robber and a harlot;

but priests and elders and rulers He dishonored and cast out.

This too one may see coming to pass in the case of the martyrs.

For many indeed of those who were utterly despised were crowned in the season of the contests;

and on the contrary, certain ones reckoned by many to be great were tripped up and fell.

Do not therefore demand an accounting from the Creator, nor say;

Why was the one crowned and the other punished? For He knows how to do these things with exactness;

'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'

For that it was justly done, you indeed knew from the end, but He knew clearly even before the end.

For God seeks not only the display of works, but also the nobility of purpose and a right-minded disposition.

For such a man, even if he should ever sin through some circumstance, will quickly raise himself up again;

and even if he should chance to be lingering in wickedness, he will not be overlooked, but God who knows all things will quickly draw him up;

just as the one corrupted in these ways, even if he should seem to do some good thing, will perish, working it with a wicked disposition;

since David too, though he had both murdered and committed adultery, because he was carried away by some circumstance and did not do these things from a deliberate practice of wickedness, quickly washed them away;

the Pharisee, on the other hand, who ventured none of these things, but even prided himself on other good deeds, destroyed everything by his wicked purpose.

What then shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

Therefore neither in the case of us and the Jews.

Then he brings forward another matter more obscure than this.

And what kind? For He says to Moses;

'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'

And again he heightens the antithesis, breaking through it in the middle, and loosing it, and making yet another perplexity.

But that what is said may become clearer, it is necessary to interpret it.

'God said,' he says, 'that The elder shall serve the younger,' before the birth-pang.

What then? Is God unjust? By no means.

Therefore hear also what follows;

For there, at least, either virtue or vice made the distinction;

but here the transgression was one and the same among all,

the sin of all the Jews, namely the making of the calf; and yet some were punished, while others were not punished.

'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.'

For it is not thine to know, O Moses, who are worthy of loving-kindness, but yield this to Me.

But if it was not for Moses to know, much less is it for us.

For this reason he did not set down what was said in a bare fashion, but also recalled to whom it was spoken;

for he says, 'He saith to Moses';

so that by the dignity of the person he might also put to shame the one who contradicts.

Having therefore stated the solution of the difficulties, he breaks off in the midst, again bringing in another objection, and saying:

'So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.'

For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 'Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.'

For just as there, he says, some were saved and others were punished,

so also here this man was preserved for this very purpose.

Then again he introduces an objection:

'So then He hath mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth.'

'Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?' Seest thou how he took pains to make the matter perplexing on all sides? And he does not at once bring in the solution, doing this also to good purpose;

but he first stops the mouth of the questioner, speaking thus:

'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?' And he does this to check his unseasonable curiosity and his great meddlesomeness, and to put a bridle upon him, and to teach him to know what God is and what man is, and how incomprehensible is His providence, and how it surpasses our reasoning, and how all things must yield obedience to Him;

so that when he has established this in the hearer, and calmed and smoothed his mind, then, bringing in the solution with much ease, he may render what is said readily acceptable to him.

And he does not say that it is impossible to solve such things, but what? That it is unlawful to inquire into such things;

for we must yield obedience to the things spoken by God, and not be over-curious,

even if we are ignorant of the reason of them.

'Who art thou that repliest against God?' Seest thou how he brought low, how he cast down the swelling of pride? 'Who art thou?' Art thou a partner in the rule? But hast thou seated thyself as a judge over God? For in comparison with Him thou canst not even be anything at all, not this or that, but not even anything whatever.

For than to say, 'Thou art nothing,' it is much more abasing to say, 'Who art thou?'

And in another way too he shows the greater indignation by the question.

And he did not say, 'Who art thou that answerest God?' but 'that repliest against Him,' that is, that contradicts, that opposes. For to say, 'It ought to have been thus,' and 'It ought not to have been thus,' belongs to one who replies against Him.

Seest thou how he struck fear, how he astounded, how he made him tremble rather than inquire and be over-curious? This is the mark of the best teacher: not to follow everywhere the desire of the disciples, but to lead them to his own purpose, and to pluck up the thorns, and then to cast in the seeds, and not always to answer straightway to the things asked.

'Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?'

Here he says this, not doing away with free will, but showing to what extent one must yield obedience to God.

For as regards calling God to account, we ought to be disposed no otherwise than the clay.

For not only ought we not to contradict, nor to inquire, but not even to utter a word at all, nor so much as to conceive a thought, but to be like that lifeless thing which follows the hands of the potter, and is carried about wheresoever he wishes.

For only for this did he take the illustration, not for the display of a way of life, but for the subjection of obedience and silence.

And this must be observed everywhere, that we ought not to take all the illustrations in their entirety, but selecting the useful part of them, and that for which they were adduced, we should let all the rest go.

As therefore when it says, 'He couched, he lay down as a lion,' we take the unconquerable and fearful quality, not the savage nor any other of the things that belong to the lion;

'I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps'—the punitive quality;

and when it says, 'Our God is a consuming fire,' the consuming quality that comes from chastisement;

so then here also we must needs understand the clay and the potter and the vessels in this way.

And when he goes on and says, 'Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?'—do not suppose that these things were said by Paul with reference to a principle of creation, nor to a necessity of moral choice, but to the authority and diversity of dispensations.

For if we do not understand it thus, many absurdities will follow.

For indeed, if the discourse here is about moral choice, then He Himself will be the maker both of the good and of those who are not such, and man will be free of all blame;

and Paul will be seen thus at variance with himself, he who everywhere crowns the freedom of choice.

He wishes therefore to establish nothing else here than to persuade the hearer to yield to God with all excess of submission, and never at any time to demand of Him an account.

For just as the potter, he says, out of the same lump makes what he wills, and there is none to contradict;

so also, when God out of the same race of men punishes some and honours others, do not be over-curious, nor meddlesome, but only worship, and imitate the clay;

and just as it follows the hands of the potter, so also do thou follow the purpose of Him who orders these things.

For He does nothing simply, nor at random, even if thou art ignorant of the hidden reason of His wisdom.

But thou allowest him to make different things out of the same lump, and dost not accuse him;

yet thou demandest of God an account of the punishments and the honours, and dost not concede to Him to know who is worthy and who is not such, but, because the same lump is of the same substance, thou deemest that the moral choices too are the same.

And of how great madness is this!

And yet, even in the case of the potter, the dishonoured and the honourable is not from the lump, but from the use of those who handle them, even as here also it is from the moral choice.

Nevertheless, as I said before, we must take the illustration in this one point only, that we ought not to contradict God, but to yield to the incomprehensibility of His wisdom.

For examples ought to be greater than the matters proposed, and than the things on account of which they are brought into the midst, so as the more to move the hearer;

since if it were not greater and did not have the more excess, it would not be able to strike home as it ought, nor to shame the one who contradicts.

So then he thus stopped their unseasonable contentiousness with the fitting excess;

and for the rest he brings in also the solution.

What then is the solution? 'What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make known His power, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction;

and that He might make known the riches of His glory upon the vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory;

even us, whom He also called, not only from among Jews, but also from among Gentiles?'

And what he means is somewhat of this kind:

that is, that man kindles the wrath of God through his own hardness;

for having enjoyed much long-suffering, he did not become better, but remained incorrigible.

Wherefore also he did not call him a vessel of wrath only, but also 'fitted for destruction';

that is, made complete, but from himself and by his own doing.

For neither did God leave undone any of the things fitted to lead to that man's correction, nor did the man himself leave undone any of the things that ruin him and deprive him of all pardon.

But nevertheless God, even knowing these things, endured with much long-suffering, wishing to lead him to repentance;

for if He had not wished this, He would not even have been long-suffering.

But since he was not willing to make use of the long-suffering unto repentance, but made himself complete unto wrath, He used him for the correction of others, by the chastisement inflicted on him making others more diligent, and by this displaying His own power.

For that God does not wish His power to be made known in this way, but rather in another way, through those whom He benefits, through those to whom He does good, this too He showed throughout, from the beginning.

For if Paul does not wish to appear powerful in this way,

For it is not that we may appear approved, he says, but that you may do what is good.